The protest will start at 4 p.m. and will be on Fillmore Street between Ninth and 10th avenues in front of the offices of U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon. The protest should last about two hours, said Mavis Belisle, director of the Peace Farm, on Monday.

Around the nation, anti-war activists are also planning protests the day war breaks out. Some are planning to picket, to pray and others want to block military installations, according to reports from The Associated Press.

So far, anti-war demonstrations, rallies, vigils and poetry readings in Amarillo have attracted about 50 to 100 people to each event, organizers said.

Different people, however, have showed up at different events and so it's difficult to know how many people have turned out altogether, said Jim Murphy, who opposes the war.

Murphy said he is against the war because a preemptive strike on Iraq sets a bad precedent.

"I don't think that Iraq is a direct threat to the United States," Murphy said.

Mina Fields Johnson of Adrian said many who oppose the war do not attend the rallies.

"A lot of people are not comfortable with that," Johnson said.

Johnson said instead of going to war the United States needs to cooperate with other countries.

"I feel strongly we have not given the inspections a chance to work," Johnson said.

The United States cannot just do anything it wants to in the world, she said.

"That's an illusion, not true," Johnson said.

Belisle said the people who are attending the anti-war rallies in Amarillo are local folks, as opposed to people from outside the Texas Panhandle who came to past protests at the Pantex Plant nuclear weapons plant.

"It's a major shift for the community," Belisle said. "Things like this are new to the Panhandle."

Belisle said the anti-war events attract a diverse crowd, from high-school students to people in their 90s. If the war starts, anti-war demonstrations and education courses will continue, she said.

Catholics have been praying for peace, said Deacon Floyd Ashley of the Amarillo Catholic Diocese.

But while the pope has spoken out against the U.S.-Iraq war, Catholic churches here are not part of the anti-war movement, Ashley said.

Brad Reynolds of Amarillo said he attends Quaker meetings where he silently prays for peace.